Getting the replay: Composing stories that stick
I’ve spent the last few days with the same song stuck in my head. You’ve experienced this before. We’ll both experience it again.
Category: Craft Discussion
What are Your Intentions?
Just as the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, the path to my recycle bin is littered with fuzzy intentions. One of these scenarios tells a complete story. The other is just a pile of garbage.
YA Wednesday: YA Villains That Will Rock Your World, A Villain-Themed YA Anthology, 10 Ways To Create Dangerously Nuanced Antagonists, Which YA Book Villain Are You?
I recently saw the new Marvel movie, Dr. Strange. I enjoyed its dazzling dreamlike special effects but also found it helpful to me as writer. I’ve been struggling with how to make the villain in my novel into a fully…
Author Interview with Elizabeth Poliner
Centered around what happens to one family during the summer of 1948, Elizabeth Poliner’s first novel, As Close to Us as Breathing, is a story of loss—whether sudden or creeping—and of memories layered in time. Narrator Molly sifts through mid-life…
On Writing the Other: 8 Resources
We write about the other with varying degrees of rigor and success. Homer’s default was narrow (white, male, hetero, warrior), but even that long ago he tasked himself with imagining his way into immortals. Chaucer wrote in the voice of…
Friday Feast: Steps in Traditional Publishing, Writing Programs That Fit the Form, Book Recommendations Based on Your Favorite Stranger Things Character, Why There Are So Many Books with Girl in the Title, and How to Make Every Word Count
Five years ago, I wrote a Tumblr post about how sometimes I hate my Work in Progress. Today, I turn in final edits to my editor for that same Work in Progress. After x amount of years (I’ve lost count)…